


Jo and John

by puff22_2001



Series: Good Spouses [2]
Category: Little Women Series - Louisa May Alcott
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Family, Female Friendship, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Major Illness, Male-Female Friendship, Multi, Second Chances, Terminal Illnesses
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-07
Updated: 2020-06-07
Packaged: 2021-03-03 23:41:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,122
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24583960
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/puff22_2001/pseuds/puff22_2001
Summary: When Meg's feelings change, John must learn to forget her. As Beth withers, Jo must learn to let go. Together, they mend.
Relationships: Elizabeth March & Josephine March, Josephine March/John Brooke, background Margaret March/Friedrich Bhaer, past Margaret March/John Brooke
Series: Good Spouses [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1776964
Kudos: 5





	Jo and John

When Mrs. Kirk asked for a nanny, Meg took the train. She and John had waited, and their love had turned too brotherly, too warm to be romantic for Meg. Rather than stay and let John wish in vain, Meg asked Jo if she could be the one to escape her beleaguered suitor.

"I don't dare to stay and hurt John any more." Meg cried to Jo the night that she ended their engagement.

"You should go and be happy and useful in New York, Meg." Jo said as she held her beloved older sister. "John is too manly to hate you for your heart. He'll mend in time."

"But Laurie . . . " Meg began as she scrubbed her cheek.

"Laurie needs to learn that, sometimes, he won't get what he wants." Jo's voice trembled only a bit. "I won't be cowed into running away. You need space; I would just be letting Laurie win."

"And you never could abide letting him win, Jo." Meg said as she laughed. Jo joined her and the question was settled. So Meg left, with a heavy heart, while Jo remained.

Thus, Jo was left alone with John, when Laurie finally fled to Europe and Amy.

"Hello, Miss Jo." John said each morning when he visited the March home. Although he and Meg were no longer engaged, the Marches still considered John one of their own. Everyone treasured his short appearances before he left for work at Mister Lawrence's offices.

When Meg left, Jo felt herself soften towards the tall young man. Although she had always regretted the possible loss of her elder sister, in her truest mind she had never had anything but affection for "Mister Greatheart." The years had only solidified Jo's feelings of admiration and respect, especially when John took Meg's decision with such grace.

"Hello, Mister Brooke." Jo said in reply each morning, with a smile at the formality. John would always be proper, the foil to Jo's impudence. Their friendship flourished during their brief talks, and soon they began to meet at night to speak as well. Jo asked John for help in doing the family finances (to spare her father the time) and John often needed a feminine hand to help about his small bachelor apartment in town.

"What do you think of John, Beth?" Jo asked one day, several weeks out from Meg's departure.

"I think he's a wonderful man. I do so wish Meg could have loved him still." Beth said as she wound Jo's yarn as she did when they were children.

"I agree, though I'm glad she didn't try to make herself love him. I've done such, and it never works." Jo said with a lusty sigh. "I just asked because Mister Lawrence sent me a letter, asking if John was carrying on. His work remains impeccable, Mister Lawrence said, but he wanted to know how he got on otherwise."

Jo blushed unconsciously, though the younger sister said nothing. Beth just continued winding and smiled. "Despite his pain, he seems in high enough spirits. You spend the most time with him, however. What do you think?"

Jo's bluster was adorable, in Beth's opinion. "He's happy enough, I believe. He's so helpful to me and we--" Whatever Jo was about to say was cut short by the arrival of a visitor, who Jo ran to greet with unusual speed. Beth smiled wider. Her sister was so sharp in other matters but so very lost when it came to love.

John, for his part, found much more in common with Jo than he'd ever anticipated. Although Jo lived to nurse and write, she also found an interest in politics. John enjoyed many evenings in lively discussion with Jo and her father, each holding their own.

That Jo was lovely in her own wild way was also surprising to John, who had loved her proper elder sister. Jo was not Meg in the slightest, but she had the same March heart and the same kind soul that John so loved in others, never noticing them in himself. His affections slowly changed as the seasons, and he found himself utterly surprised that Jo could ever replace Meg in any way. But Jo had a way of storming into many things, and his heart began to be one.

When his own feelings became clear to him, the staid young man began planning. Unfortunately, John soon found that Jo would not be wooed easily-- as his former student Laurie could attest. Beth turned worse in the fall of her nineteenth year, and all of Jo's thoughts of love trended towards familial. John did not dare to disturb the fragile peace of the little women about him, not when it would be broken so soon beyond repair.

It was Beth who set Jo in the right direction, as it often was. In pain and weakening, Beth knew that Jo would need the most support of them all when her frail sister finally joined their heavenly Father. Father and Mother had each other, and Ami had Laurie in Europe. But Meg and Jo had only each other, and no one was as close to Beth as dear Jo. Meg would mend in time; Jo might not ever heal from the loss of her Bethy.

The very idea tormented Beth. Though she didn't wish to meddle in her sisters' lives, she also knew Jo so much better than perhaps Jo did herself. She would work herself to the bone in her grief and try to be all for everyone. But she would never own her feelings or admit that she had fallen prey to that demon love, especially the love of her childhood foe.

Time ran shorter every day. Meg returned from Mrs. Kirke's with a bag of new books and a suitor from Germany, John voicing his approval as enthusiastically as possible to not mar her happiness. Amy and Laurie wrote of each other often and Beth could read the growing emotions in their words. Only Jo and John remained quite utterly alone and Beth despaired.

Jo herself also stayed willfully ignorant of the obvious pinings of one John Brooke. Unlike with Laurie, it was not mismatched affections that kept her at arm’s reach. But Beth needed her in a way the healthy, independent John did not, and Beth knew it.

"Jo, I must ask you a favor." Beth said in the winter before Amy was to return from Europe. Beth still had the energy to knit caps for the poor children in town and worked at a bright blue one, though it would be mere weeks before she lost the strength. Jo sat at her bedside reading the newspapers to Beth before John's daily visit, now dearer to them all as he remained a strong shoulder to lean on during such dark times.

"Of course, dear. Anything."

"I want you to be kind to John." Beth said without preamble. Jo looked up with a start, before turning back to her papers as quickly.

"Aren't we all?" Jo rumpled the papers with a nervous laugh. "He's a right hero, as Laurie might say. He's been a real trump to keep you in fruit and nuts." Jo did not mention the smile he brought to Beth's face that mirrored her own.

"I know, but he's lonely. I think my illness has hurt him more than he lets us see." Beth lay down her work with a sigh. "You remember, his mother and her dear nurse both passed from terrible wasting things."

"Yes, I do remember." Jo said, sobering. John said little when the faithful guard of his departed mother died, with the pain and weakness inherent in so many illnesses man had yet to conquer. But a new sorrow lined his face for weeks after, and Jo had noticed the gentle brown eyes droop when he left them at night.

"I almost wish that I was strong enough to ask him to stay away for his own sake." Beth continued, "But I'm selfish and I'd miss him. But it hurts him to see me so, I know."

"He would never blame you, Beth." Jo said, assured of John's good heart.

"I know, and that comforts me. But he needs a friend." Beth's voice quivered. "You will too, when I'm gone."

"We're already friends, Beth." Jo said, her own voice rough with repressed emotion. Beth smiled through her growing tears.

"Jo, I'm not so innocent as you might hope." Jo looked away, her face flushing red. "I don't want you to mourn me forever."

"Beth--"

"Don't give up on your happiness just because you think that I didn't get any. I had you. I had Father and Marmee. I had the girls, Dear Mr. Lawrence. I had Laurie and John." Beth's voice took on a desperate tone, though it was still kind and quiet. "Please, don't miss me so much that you can't be happy."

"I can't say that I won't miss you, Beth." Jo whispered. "I can't promise that."

"Miss me, Jo. I'm so selfish, and I want to know that I mattered. But don't forget the others who love you. " The tears finally overflowed. "Love them back, Jo, as much as I love you."

"I will, Beth. I will." Jo took her dearest sister into her arms, her sight blurring. "I'll love everyone as you did."

"And be kind to John." Beth said as the tears made rivers on her cheeks.

"I'll be his best friend, Beth. I'll always be his friend."

"That's all that I ask, my love."

That night passed uneasily for Jo. The family had accepted Beth’s fate when she’d come back from their seaside trip no better. They had made their peace (as much as obstinate Jo ever could) with the unfairness of mortality. Beth’s decline did not haunt Jo’s rest most nights, now that Beth herself assured Jo of her willingness to be the first pilgrim called.

No, what kept Jo awake that night was a pact wrung from grief and love.

Jo was John’s friend for his own sake, and loved him for that as well. But Beth had made her promise in a way they both knew meant more.

Jo was a chestnut, sharp and unwelcoming where others could see. She was angered at being forced to do anything. When Laurie had tried to make Jo love him, she had hotly refused. When Jo had tried to love Laurie for her own comfort, her heart remained stubbornly sisterly towards him.

But Beth asked so little of Jo, and her promise was not a demand but a plea. As to John, the quiet young man never asked anything of Jo and revelled in what little she gave. Jo wanted to give him more, as her prickly outer walls fell and revealed the softer center within.

“We must have this out, if I’m to obey Bethy’s decree.” Jo whispered to herself, her sister’s pale face on the bed opposite her own. Jo would not show the cowardice that sometimes plagued her as a girl. She was a woman grown, and she would not run from a suitor as she had not run from Laurie.

Yet somehow the idea that she loved John in return was more frightening that breaking Laurie’s heart had been.

Jo slept little and was heavy-eyed the next day. She waited in both anticipation and fear for John to arrive that evening, and did little work about the house. Her parents pretended to be oblivious, and Beth looked hopefully at Jo whenever Jo flitted into the room to offer her services. Meg, who was wholly wrapped up in her letters to her professor, only smiled serenely at her sister and said, “Lovering is nicer than you ever thought, isn’t it, Jo?”

“I haven’t the faintest idea what you mean, Meg.” Jo said testily. Despite their renewed closeness, Jo had not brought Meg into her confidence in this matter, afraid to harm her sister and unconsciously afraid to stir up girlhood emotions. Meg, for her part, instead conferred with Beth and their parents to learn the truth when she’d returned from New York.

Through her hurt at Jo’s denials, Meg subtly maneuvered her sister into her erstwhile lover’s arms and herself out of the way. The fact that Meg was blissfully happy planning her future with Friedrich certainly helped to ease Jo’s mind about the whole mess. But Jo would always be stubborn, and Meg laughed to Beth that Jo would not be courted as other young women.

Jo proved this point quite plainly when a knock came from the parlor and Jo stood stock-still, as red as the shawl about her shoulders.

“I’ll get the door, someone must and I don’t know where Hannah is.” Jo said after a moment when a second knock sounded, much more strongly than before.

She made herself walk the rooms to the front door. She forced herself to open the solid panel. In both relief and vexation, Aunt March stood there instead of the handsome young man Jo had anticipated.

“Hello, Aunt March! Please, come in.” Jo said as politely as she could manage, though her aunt’s countenance did not promise pleasantries.

“Yes, yes! I’ve come to see Beth. And to speak to you, Josephine.” Aunt March said as Jo led her to a waiting chair. “Are your parents about? I’ve a mind to speak with them as well.”

“We’ve just finished supper, Aunt. They’re in the parlor. Shall I get them?”

“No, I’ll speak to them after I’ve set you to rights. What’s this I hear about you falling in with that Book fellow?”

Jo had worked on her anger for years, and her efforts proved successful when she did not blurt out a “Christopher Columbus!” as she might have as a girl. Instead she trained her aunt with a severe look that was much like the woman before her.

“I’ve not ‘fallen in’ with anyone, Aunt. Mister Brooke is a dear fellow.”

“Ah, yes. Mister Brooke is a dear fellow indeed. I was appalled when your sister announced her engagement to that man, I tell you. If I’d had a chance to speak to her before-times, she would have known better.” Aunt March thumped her cane on the floor for emphasis as she continued, “Had she gone through with the wedding, I would have written her out of my will.”

“Meg would have never given up love for money. I’m shocked that you say so.” Jo said with mounting anger. To deride both Meg and John at the same time was too much. “And Mister Brooke would have made a fine husband for Meg! He’s honest and kind, and he works harder than most anyone I’ve ever met. I’m honored to call him my friend.”

Aunt March looked at Jo keenly at that. “He’s just a friend, then? The rumors are false?”

Jo stood her ground, even as she felt that she was falling. This was not at all what she had hoped for this night. Jo was exhausted with little sleep, mourning, and worry. John might not even come by if he worked late; instead, Jo had to listen to her bitter old aunt gossip about them.

“Yes, a friend! But I would be so happy to have more, if he were to ask.” Jo was saying too much, far too much, but she and Aunt March knew just how to rouse each other and had for years.

“Don’t tell me that he might ask for your hand! He knows you have got rich relations, child. That’s the secret to his swift change of heart, I suspect.” Aunt March retorted hotly, her own ire rising. Aunt March still saw much of herself in Jo and balked at the idea that her favorite niece might dishonor her name and marry below her station.

“How dare you say such a thing! As if John could ever be so mean. He loved Meg because everyone does! And he loves me because, because he does!” Jo said, forgetting any of her own virtues in speaking of others. And forgetting that John should still be Mister Brooke to a proper young lady. “And I love him because he lets me write my stories and he listens to me! John is kind and he’s, he’s worth ten of your respectable young men you’d have courting me!”

Aunt March was very angry to see Jo so. Angry and sad as well, missing someone many years and envious that Jo’s romance was only just budding. They fought as they hadn’t since Jo was a young girl, hair only just turned up.

“Well, I wash my hands of you! You were always a willful girl, and you no doubt know what you’ve lost with this folly. I won’t see Beth or your parents, and you may tell them why! Don't expect anything from me when you are married. I’m done with you forever!”

At that Aunt March stormed out, slamming the door behind her. The fight left Jo as she gathered her emotions, ashamed at her behavior. If her mother could have heard her! She didn’t know whether to retreat to the garret, or stand there in mortification until Revelation came.

Her internal castigation was cut short when John rushed in to hug her tightly.

“Oh, Jo! I walked in just as you began, the door was open, and I daren’t interrupt but thank you for defending me and thank you to Aunt March for rousing you!”

“She has been vexing me since I was a mere slip of a girl.” Jo said, valiantly trying to ignore the beating of her heart and the strong hands that now held her by the shoulders so that she could look into John’s beautiful brown eyes.

“But would you have told anyone, least of all me, that you cared for me without provocation?” John asked, gentle even as he teased.

“I didn’t want you to know.” Jo said as great tears began to gather in her eyes. The stress of the day and the excitement of the hour caught up with her quickly as she looked up at John.

“Please don’t cry, Jo! I know that I haven’t much, but I may stay and make you happy, may I?”

Jo smiled through her weeping, happier than she ever thought possible when Beth was ill. But Beth would be as happy for them. Meg and her parents would rejoice.

For Jo had found a kind, patient affection in a gentle man who loved her, flyaway hair and all. She took his hands from her shoulders and held them in her own as she answered him, in both look and word.

“Yes, John.”

**Author's Note:**

> I had originally planned to write a fanfiction for every possible, plausible pairing in Little Women. I eventually eked out this story, which helped me to outline future installments. I might take years in between each story, but at least I'm getting them out eventually.
> 
> Yes, I'm aware that there's probably some historical inaccuracy in this tale. I tried to follow LMA's general style and I used her books for reference, but I also didn't do any extra research. I just want to write fluffy second love stories. :3


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